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| Here’s a look at today’s Startups briefing. - 💳 HSBC is set to launch a payments app to take on fintech startups.
- 📈 SaaS startup year-on-year annual recurring revenue growth stagnated in Q2 2023.
- 🚀 Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal launched a new startup.
Thank you. Karan
p/karan-chafekar | |
| 1 | | Europe's largest bank, HSBC Holdings Plc, is rolling out a new international payments app, Zing, that will go up against solutions offered by fintech startups like Revolut and Wise Plc. The bank will launch the service in the U.K. before expanding to other countries in the coming months. With the move, HSBC intends to become a leading financial institution for international mobile customers. More: - CEO Nuno Matos said, "We want to establish ourselves as a global platform for international payments, which ties perfectly with our international payments strategy for HSBC, and you should see us very soon in Asia, in the Middle East, and in EU markets."
- The new product will complement HSBC's existing Global Money service that offers existing customers currency service at no cost.
- Global Money platform has processed transactions worth $11B in 2022.
Zoom out: - A slew of startups have emerged in the global retail payments domain that offer services such as cross-border payments, savings accounts, and investing products.
- One of the key players in the space, Revolut, expects to rake in $2B revenue this year, up almost 70% YoY.
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| 2 | | Year-over-year growth rates for SaaS startups with annual recurring revenues (ARR) between $1M and $30M have stagnated, per the SaaS growth report from ChartMogul. 
What the numbers say: ARR growth for startups with $1M to $30M revenues dropped from 27% in Q1 to 25% in Q2 2023. Top decile companies within the SaaS domain reported a growth rate of 153% in Q2 2023, slightly higher than Q1's 148%. While top decile companies have reported growth, their growth levels are still down a third from the record highs of 2021. Relevance: The top companies in SaaS businesses with $1M to $3M reported ARR growth of 192%. Meanwhile, startups grew at 121% in the $3M-$8M ARR segment, while those between $8M to $15M grew at 110%. Startups took roughly two years and nine months to cross the $1M ARR mark. Only 13% of SaaS startups could cross the $10M ARR mark after 10 years of launch. | | | |
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| 3 | | Flipkart's co-founder Binny Bansal's new startup, OppDoor, will provide e-commerce companies with end-to-end solutions to expand globally. The firm was founded in May 2021 but was working in stealth mode. More: - OppDoor will initially offer services across the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Mexico, Germany, Singapore, Japan, and Australia.
- The startup aims to provide "fully managed operations and business advisory services," including design, product development, human resources, and other backend support services.
Zoom out: - Bansal also has a Singapore-based VC firm, Three State Ventures, which has backed startups such as Curefoods, Scapia, and others.
- Bansal and Flipkart's other co-founder, Sachin Bansal, sold their firm to Walmart for about $16B in 2018.
- He liquidated his remaining stake at about $1B to $1.5B last year.
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| 4 | | Indonesian EV battery startup Swap Energy raked in $22M in Series A funding. The latest capital infusion increased the firm's post-money valuation by 64% from $46.2M in Aug. 2023 to $76M. More: - Qiming Venture Partners led the round, contributing $12M to the Series A fundraising.
- GGV Capital and Ondine Capital participated in the round, contributing $8M and $2M, respectively.
- Ondine Capital led the firm's pre-Series A1 round of $7.2M last April.
- Swap Energy provides EV charging infrastructure for two-wheelers in Indonesia.
- The firm has partnered with Smoot and Minerva Electrons for the charging infrastructure.
- Additionally, it has partnered with Grab and Perusahaan Listrik Negara to develop an integrated EV ecosystem.
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| 5 | | Nonprofit organization National Council for Prescription Drug Programs awarded a $150,000 grant to telepharmacy and analytics software startup RxLive. The grant will be diverted towards a study aimed at understanding healthcare behaviors and developing a large language model to automate tracking healthcare interactions. More: - The research outcome could help provide patients with a proactive approach to their wellness and medical plan and lower visits to hospitals and emergency departments.
- Moreover, it aspires to enhance and streamline interactions between pharmacists and physicians, potentially transforming collaborative healthcare efforts.
- Since its founding in 2018, the Tampa Bay, Fla.-based startup has secured $10M in total funding, the last of which came as a Series A funding round.
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| 6 | | We Founder Circle (WFC) emerged as India's leading angel investor network after participating in 103 funding rounds for 82 startups in 2023. The firm has mobilized over $30M in investments from its network of 1000+ angel investors from over 40 nations. More: - Since its founding three years ago, the firm has backed 162 startups through 207 deals.
- The firm has developed a global investment and networking platform called Invstt.com to provide startup investment opportunities to global networks.
- The platform has already facilitated $10M investments in startups from 50+ deals.
- WFC is sector agnostic and has invested in startups across the deeptech, Web3, fintech, healthtech, agritech, EV, and D2C domains.
- The firm also has an accelerator program called EvolveX, which backed 25 startups this year.
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- In Dec. 2023, Swedish bankruptcies increased by 23% compared to a year earlier. Bankruptcies reached the highest level since the 1990s.
- Digibank GXS' former executive director and head of regional strategy, Reuben Lai, co-founded a new cleantech startup dubbed Arkadiah. The startup aims to create carbon removal and biodiversity credits in the region.
- B2B marketplace Fashinza's co-founder Jamil Ahmad has resigned from the chief business officer role.
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 | Analyst | | Karan Chafekar is a Management Consultant, Business enthusiast, and Licensed Pilot. | | This newsletter was edited by Vibha Chapparike | |
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